Fire ants hinder Texas beekeepers

BLYTHE, Calif. (AP) A truckload of Texas honeybees shipped to California to pollinate an almond crop was stopped, stranded and sent back after agricultural officials discovered the hives had hitchhikers: fire ants.

Mark Brady had loaded 512 hives on a flatbed truck last month and sent them west to pollinate the crop, which is due to blossom in a few days. Each hive held about 25,000 bees.

California inspectors found quarantined fire ants on the truck, however, and stopped it at the state line. Fire ants have spread from the southeastern United States to the West Coast, alarming California agriculture authorities and worrying the state's almond growers as well as beekeepers in Texas.

The load sat on an unused airstrip here while thousands of bees died. Brady argued by telephone with the state Department of Food and Agriculture, which he said threatened to gas all the bees to kill the ants.

Arizona balked at letting the bees return through the state. Nevada granted permission to return, but Utah closed its borders. Truckers passed word on their radios, giving the hostage hives folklore status.

Marooned for eight days, the bees and ants were allowed out of Blythe on Feb. 4, with California and Arizona providing special escorts.

But Brady estimated that he lost $40,000 or more, and vowed that he and his beekeeper colleagues aren't about to send more bees to California.

''Nobody there could make a decision. We went back and forth, back and forth,'' Brady said. ''The way it was handled, it was a joke. It just was not right.''

''We sympathize, but we can't sympathize enough to let him through,'' said Agriculture Department spokesman Oscar Hidalgo. The state's fire ant policy, he said, is ''zero tolerance, at this point.''